WILLIAMSBURG — As of Dec. 31, the nine-hole Spotswood Course at Colonial Williamsburg, part of the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, is officially closed with a redevelopment plan for the property in the works.
The Robert Trent Jones-designed course, an update of the original 1947 Williamsburg Inn course, was once called the “best short nine-hole course in the country” by “Golf Magazine”
Despite the nostalgic love of the course within the community, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation said the course was underutilized and had become a strain on the Foundation’s ability to deliver its core educational mission.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is in the early stages of a redevelopment plan with Frye Properties.
“Frye Properties, which the Foundation selected through a careful and comprehensive process, has a strong track record of producing world-class developments that emphasize community-building and master-planning, superior craftsmanship, architectural compatibility with the surrounding area and working with existing topography,” Ellen Peltz, Public Relations Manager for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
“Frye has constructed several wonderful developments in Hampton Roads which have significantly enhanced the quality of life. The project is still in the early stages of development,” she added.
According to a release from Frye Properties, the company is currently proposing six different fee-simple housing types: bungalows (700-1,000 square feet), mews (1,300-1,800 square feet), cottages (1,800-2,400 square feet), brownstones (2,600-2,900 square feet), medium single-family (1,400-2,400 square feet) and large single-family (2,500-3,000+ square feet).
“We are honored to have been selected by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as the developer for this incredibly special piece of land. We look forward to creating a vibrant, walkable community that reflects the character and high standards of the Colonial Williamsburg area,” Frye Properties said.
The current plan is to submit the re-zoning and Architectural Review Board applications in mid-January so that the project can be on the Planning Commission agenda this spring.
If the plan is approved by the Planning Commission, it will be presented to City Council. With the city’s approval, Frye anticipates beginning site work in early 2024 and home construction in late Summer of that same year.
Frye anticipates building 165-171 custom and semi-custom homes; however, this number may slightly change during the city’s review process or during site engineering. Because the site is in the Corridor Protection District (CPD), Frye will comply with the city’s Architectural Guidelines and Architectural Review Board requirements.
In addition, Frye intends to create a Residential Design Pattern Book specifically for this development which will complement and be compatible with the Colonial Williamsburg area. The standards in the Pattern Book will comply with or exceed the standards set for the CPD and it will be written by classically trained architects, it said.
For more information about the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, visit its official website.